FPL is an abbreviation for "federal poverty level." A family of four at 400% FPL would be considered making around $94,000 a year. A child in a family making the current poverty level, which is around $23,000, is more likely to experience trauma.

Neglect makes up the majority of maltreatment against children which can contribute to childhood trauma. Neglect can include physical, medical, educational, or emotional neglect.

Trauma in the classroom looks like:

Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CBI)

Students who face traumatic events in their life are more likely to experience behavioral concerns in school. Cognitive Behavioral Intervention (CBI) is a research based approach to help students begin controlling their own behaviors rather than introducing external rewards or enforcing punishments to teach correct behaviors. Students are taught how to use their inner voice, or "self talk" in order to solve a problem or prevent themselves from getting upset. The focus of CBI is to shift the students from focusing on "what to think" to "how to think" and how they can use their own thinking strategies to calm themselves down. Teachers can teach these skills through modeling and role playing appropriate behaviors and interactions between peers, positive reinforcement and feedback when a student appropriately attempts to solve a problem independently, teaching specific deescalation and calming techniques, and thinking aloud during a problem.

Successful steps for CBI include:

Think before acting

Distinguish the problem

Determine solutions

Identify consequences for each solution

Pick a solution and follow it

For example:John pushes Thomas during a game of basketball at recess. At the beginning of the year, Thomas would have pushed him back, causing both students to get more upset. Now, through CBI, and teacher modeling how to appropriately handle a problem, Thomas is able to be aware that he is upset and he decides to take a breath to calm himself down first. He then tells John that he does not like when he pushes him, and John does not push him again.

Calm down cards allow younger students to visually see choices and techniques they can use to help calm themselves down.